Fox May Use Comic-Con Panel to Announced Expanded X-MEN Movie Universe; X-FORCE Could Lead the Way [UPDATED]

In the comics, the world of mutants goes far beyond the X-Men and their enemies. There are other teams of good mutants to the point where going through all of the X-books became a burden due to their numerous crossovers. In addition to the X-Men, you also have X-Force, X-Factor, X-Club, X-Statix, X-Terminators, X-Men-in-Training, X-Corporation, Excalibur, Generation X, Lights, and New Mutants (I’m sure I’m probably leaving some out, but this what Wikipedia provided). 20th Century Fox, in appraising the superhero movie landscape, may be embracing the concept that if other studios are going to go one superhero per movie in order to build a team, Fox has the power to introduce entire teams right off the bat. The X-Menmovies have continued to pile in more and more mutants, and now that it’s busting at the seems with Bryan Singer‘s upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, the studio may be close to moving into the secondary teams. If so, the announcement may come at their Comic-Con panel next Saturday.

Hit the jump for more including signs that X-Force might lead the way. [Update: X-Force creator Rob Liefeld says that an X-Force movie is in the planning stages, and he’s known about it since March. Hit the jump for why I have an issue with Liefeld’s statement.]

Bleeding Cool has been tracking down rumors that Fox plans to announce an expanded X-Men universe during the studio’s Comic-Con panel on Saturday, July 20th from 4:15 – 5:45pm. X-Men Days of Future Past will be there, and it would be a good launching point especially when you consider how many mutants are in the movie (although I personally believe a lot of them will be cannon fodder for the sentinels). If the universe does expand, it could lead off with X-Force, created by horribleartist/writerRob Liefeld. X-MenFilms.com has learned that Fox registered x-forcemovie.com, although there’s currently nothing there at the moment.

For those who don’t know about X-Force, it’s a slightly darker and more aggressive team than the X-Men. The team is usually led by the hulking time-traveler Cable, and in the past the team has included members such as Deadpool, Colossus, Cyclops, Archangel, and, of course, Wolverine. While I don’t believe all or perhaps any of those characters will be joining Cable on a potential X-Force movie, the announcement would make a lot of sense. Every studio is looking to make a splash at Comic-Con, and an expanded X-Men universe would create a lot of buzz on a day when other major films are fighting for attention.

We’ll be in Hall H, so we’ll be sure to let you know if even more mutants are headed our way.

Update: Replying to fans on Twitter, Liefeld made it clear that the movie was only at the planning stages, but already that’s something. However, he also thinks a Magneto movie is in development, and that’s almost certainly false. There was a Magneto spin-off in development years ago, but they decided to fold that picture into X-Men: First Class, which is why screenwriter Sheldon Turner has a story credit on the picture. Basically, don’t leap to take what Liefeld says at face value. The man can’t even draw feet: